Amon

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Amon (also known as Mouryu) is a character from the Kishin Douji Zenki series. He is a human man with orange/blonde hair, black eyes and purple clothes. He also very long hair and wears a grey cape and grey boots.

Amon is one of the antagonists of the Jushi ark and one of the four loyal servants of Shijura.

Unlike the other Jushi (aka "Curse Samurai"), Amon only has one form which is that of a human sorcerer. Otherwise, Amon is a good magician, who mainly uses puppeteer magic to summon and control various Hyouijuu.

Ingame he uses magical barriers and shoots laserbeams instead. In Battle Raiden, he moves around by levitation, while in the manga, he seems to teleport or at least move swiftly.

Manga
Amon first appears in Shikigami-chou as a regular visitor to the town. He soon hears of Chiaki and her strong guardian deity and wants to meet them himself. To achieve this, Amon plants a Hyouinomi, which attacks a man and turns him into a Hyouijuu, which is them controlled by Amon. Amon uses the Hyouijuu to break the Enno Shrine's seal barrier and enters, which causes Zenki and Chiaki to be alarmed and them running straight to Amon's location. This amuses Amon, who then decides to challenge them to a battle, which (unknowingly to Zenki and Chiaki) causes them to be trapped inside an illusion world. After defeating Amon for the first time, he tells them about this and that the need to defeat all five Jushi to free themselves and Shikigami-chou from the trap.

Ingame
He only appears in the first of the SNES Kishin Douji Zenki games, Battle Raiden. In this game, he is both a major character and a boss. Ingame he is called Mouryu.

Mouryu's mugshots
Mouryu actually has two mugshots in Battle Raiden. One shows him wearing his blue cloak while the other one shows his actual face without the cloak.

Yet, Mouryu's uncloaked mugshot never appears in the English translation of the game. The reason why the translators removed or didn't use it is unknown.

The gallery below shows the difference between the Japanese and English version of the game by comparing two screenshots from the same ingame scene from the different versions.

Notes to avoid confusion: ''The color of the stage number is only different because its color changes when playing a new game plus. This has nothing to do with the game's version.''

A man of many names
While it is currently unknown why Amon's and the other Jushi's names were changed when they made their reappearance in Battle Raiden, it is a fact, that these other names weren't made up by anyone, but are indeed present ingame.

Also, there are additional changes, which affect the characters personalities.

Amon from the manga is known as a very mean and sadistic character. This changes with his ingame counterpart. Mouryu is very polite and even shows his full power in mid-battle due to being respectful to his opponent.

Japanese version
In the original, Japanese manga, Amon starts out as Master of the Dark Arts - Amon, but is reduced to simply being Amon after his death in Volume 2 Chapter 1.3.

This is reflected by him being referred to as Yokoshima-jutsu-shi Amon on the characters page of Volume 2, and then being "only" Amon on the characters page of Volume 3.

The Kanji and Furigana writings of his full title are 邪術師・鴉紋 and じゃじゅつし・アモン respectively, while his name without the title is simply written as 鴉紋 and アモン.

The hidden meaning associated to the Kanji writing of his name can be translated as either Crow's crest or Raven footprint, both of which are likely referring to him flying around (as seen in his battle against Zenki both in the manga and in Battle Raiden) and wearing a dark cloak.

Chinese version
In the chinese Version of the Manga, Amon's full title becomes 大法防・鴉紋 (Dàfǎ fáng - Yā wén), while his name becomes 鴉紋 (Yā wén).

Japanese version
In the original, Japanese version of Kishin Douji Zenki - Battle Raiden, Amon's ingame counterpart is referred to as 猛流 (Mō-ryū), which transliterates as Mouryu.

The hidden meaning associated to his name can be translated as rapid (as in a "raging stream of water").

English version
The DynamicDesigns translation keeps his name intact and refers to the ingame character as Mouryu.

Thanks

 * Big thanks to Goki and Zenki for adding the Japanese and Chinese Kanji and Furigana, as well as their pronounciation and their meanings!
 * Big thanks to DynamicDesigns for creating an English translation of Battle Raiden, so non-Japanese fans can enjoy the game as well!


 * -|Ingame stats and behaviour=

Mouryu (also known as Amon) is a slender humanoid enemy with a greyish skintone and orange hair, who starts out wearing a blue cloak which hides his body. He is introduced in Stage 1-4. Mouryu starts out standing in place and talking to Zenki and Chiaki.

Mouryu's first phase
After the introductory speech Mouryu will take off from the ground and start levitating all over the place. He will then fly out off Zenki's reach and attempt to ram him at random intervals.

If Mouryu hits Zenki, Zenki will receive a medium knockback and take a medium anmount of damage. If Mouryu stays in contact with Zenki, Zenki will receive additional knockbacks and collision damage.

Zenki can either kick Mouryu or attempt to use the Gale Dragon against him. The Gale Dragon will hit Mouryu, but do very little damage, thus proving that Mouryu is resistant to it. Zenki's kicks will do more damage. If Zenki attempts to punch at Mouryu or use the Vajura Beam Exorcism, Mouryu will often avoid these attacks by simply flying out of Zenki's reach.

Mouryu's second phase
After losing about half of his health, Mouryu throws his cloak away and reveals himself. He will now get more aggressive and will fly way faster then before, sometimes he even flies offscreen.

Mouryu will now actively try to avoid Zenki, thus it will be the best to continue using kicks and the Gale Dragon against him, as Zenki's other moves will fail. Zenki can also use Rudra, if he has enough health and Rudra Protection Scrolls, but this is not advised this will make Zenki a sitting duck against Mouryu's quick movements.

If Mouryu attacks, he will now leave the screen by quickly flying upwards. Shortly after that, he will quickly descend behind Zenki and try to shoot him with a laser beam. Mouryu has to charge up his hands before firing, but he will be very quick, so Zenki has very little time to avoid this attack by either using the double jump or backstep. Though backstep is only advised, if Zenki is already far away from Mouryu, as he might still get hit if the beam isn't almost over. If Zenki misses his chance and jumps to late, he will get hit in the foot or leg.

Getting hit by Mouryu's laser beam does quite a bit of damage, no matter where it hits Zenki.

Sometimes, Mouryu might also fly right into Zenki when descending, causing Zenki to get hurt by the collision damage and shortly after that by Mouryu's beam. Note that Zenki will get hit by the beam, because the collision damage will stun him, making Zenki unable to avoid the beam in time. This situation can be avoided alltogether by staying away from the outer sides of the arena after Mouryu goes into his second phase.

If Zenki punches Mouryu while he tries to charge his beam, Mouryu will raise a tablet sized shield which will nullify the damage done to him. As long as Zenki keeps punching, Zenki and Mouryu will be in a tie of Zenki punching and Mouryu leaving his shield raised.

If Zenki is quick enough, he can also attack Mouryu with the Vajura Beam Exorcism. If he does this quick enough after Mouryu's descent, it will deal a decent anmount of damage, thus being his weakness. This is very hard to utilize as it needs very good timing to pull of. If the player is to slow, Mouryu will raise his shield, causing Zenki to charge into the shield and hurt himself.

Mouryu's defeat
After defeating Mouryu, Zenki will call him a fool, while Mouryu falls over screaming, catching on fire and blowing up.

Mouryu's ingame sprites

 * -|Ingame dialogues=

The ingame dialogues featured below were all directly translated from the Japanese version of the game. All credit for the translation of these lines goes to Zenki.

Dragon Emperor's hill
The 竜皇塚 (Ryū ōdzuka) aka "Dragon Emperor's hill" seen in the game's intro and referenced by Mouryu, is the same one seen in the final volume of the manga, when Dokushi and Kokuu's other followers visit the location.

Unlike their ingame counterparts, Shijura and his followers in the manga never visit this plcae.

Alternate translations

 * "Ryū ōdzuka" might alternatively be translated as the "Dragon Emperor's mound".
 * The DynamicDesigns translation calls it the "Dragon Emperor's Tomb", which implies, that they took the manga for reference for the translation of this line, though it spoilers, that this is Ryuuma-ou-Mikado's tomb and not just a hill or mound shaped like a dragon.

Return to sender!
While Zenki's final line in this entry doesn't make sense when taken out of context, it is likely meant to be referring to Zenki sending back one of Mouryu's laser beams to the latter, which would make for a similar scene to him using his Vajura against Amon in the manga.

Ironically, this isn't possible ingame, so the line is always out of context, unless the player has read the chapters of the manga featuring the original Amon.


 * -|Gallery=